Strange as it may sound, the dream for Jürgen Klopp and Pep Lijnders isn't necessarily to make Liverpool the best team in the world.
Instead, they simply want the Reds to be the most difficult team to play against, overwhelming opponents with their aggression and intensity.
Some would say those are one and the same, but the latter objective better speaks to the team's identity — the identity that eroded last season.
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"Right now, they look like the easiest team to play against," Sky Sports' Jamie Carragher said of his former team following a 3-3 draw against Brighton in October (via TEAMtalk), and things didn't markedly improve until April, when a tactical tweak re-energized Liverpool but came too late to salvage Champions League football.
Reflecting on the campaign in May, Klopp spoke with rather brutal honesty about his unrecognizable side.
"There were a lot of games in the season I think teams were happy to face us now," he said (via LFC), "and that's actually the worst thing that can happen to you. I hated these moments."
The numbers illustrate what the manager was talking about. Liverpool actually allowed the third-fewest shots in the division (366), with only the top two in Arsenal (337) and Manchester City (291) bettering its record, but it was still an entirely uncharacteristic shambles defensively.
Liverpool only had the eighth-best defensive record when it came to expected goals (xG) against and, crucially, allowed the highest xG per shot (0.13) of any team in the league.
Essentially, this means that, while Liverpool wasn't offering its opponents a particularly high amount of chances, it gave up the highest quality opportunities. The rewards for teams who could get in against the Reds were unparalleled.
The biggest contributor to the problem Klopp talks about, though, was Liverpool's inability to win duels — at a meager 47.5 per cent, the former champion recorded the worst success rate in the league.
It also allowed the third-highest take-on success percentage (48.9) and only attempted a tackle in 37.4 per cent of these situations, placing it third from bottom in the table.
Teams were able to bypass the first and second waves of a once-fearsome press all-too-easily because of a twofold mismatch. Liverpool looked ill-equipped to deal with technical players but also struggled to match its opposition athletically, lacking in energy, strength and speed.
As such, attackers were able to get at the back four, or the remnants of it with the full-backs up the pitch, with striking ease. Liverpool's high defensive line, the hallmark of its high-risk, high-reward approach, relied on resolute protection, but it was repeatedly left exposed.
Often you would see the offensive side able to match or even outnumber the red shirts in these scenarios, allowing them to fashion clear shooting chances as if it were an attack-versus-defense drill in training. There was a joyous amount of space to be had as Liverpool's off-ball structure melted away.
The good news as far as Klopp is concerned is that last season has been confined to the history books now, and he can work from a clean slate.
He's already found one player who can help remedy the situation in Alexis Mac Allister, who memorably weaved through a crowd of Liverpool players in that aforementioned draw to highlight the extent of his new team's problems.
![Alexis Mac Allister signing for Liverpool Football Club at AXA Training Centre on June 08, 2023 in Kirkby, England.](https://i2-prod.liverpool.com/incoming/article27301952.ece/ALTERNATES/s615b/0_MacAllister.jpg)
Mac Allister ranked inside the Premier League's top 15 midfielders (among those who had played at least 1,000 minutes) for duel success rate last season (57.1 per cent), and beat every Liverpool counterpart except Thiago, who impressively placed fifth.
Intriguingly, the man who sat just one place below Mac Allister at 56.7 per cent is another potential signing in Southampton's Roméo Lavia.
This offers us a clue as to why, as Sky Germany's Florian Plettenberg reports, Klopp is a 'big fan' of the player.
Lavia may have to push hard for Liverpool to strike an agreement, with the Reds currently balking at the Saints' $64m (£50m/€58m) price tag (via Neil Jones/Empire of the Kop).
But if the Reds are to restore their identity and return to the top, then Klopp knows that they simply must address the very 'worst thing' about a bleak year.